Chapter 246 Ghost (1) Death from a tiger bite
When the individual and the collective are placed at both ends of the scale at the same time,
The choice of sacrifice or salvation has already been decided by others.
——"Volume 4: Alone and Group"
There is no moon in the long night, with only a few stars hanging high above the head, and a cluster of green will-o'-wisps floating in front of me.
The fog locks the mountain forest, and the gray smoke squirms among the trees, blurring the ghosts in the distance.
Lin Chen opened his eyes and saw a mirror, glowing silver in the rich night, reflecting his image.
Wearing dark gray clothes, with long hair tied back with a cloth belt, he holds a lantern in his right hand and a wooden medicine box in his left hand, just like the dress of an ancient doctor.
The mirror flashed away like a phantom.
Lin Chen held the lantern pole in his mouth and reached out to open the lid of the medicine box. He saw a letter lying on a pile of unrecognizable herbs. It had been opened and folded.
He took out the letter paper from the envelope with two fingers, shook it off and flattened it. He could see the ink characters on it clearly by the light of the lantern:
[Doctor Lin personally signed...]
This The letter was written in classical Chinese, and the general idea was to invite "Doctor Lin" to a place called "Yanghua Town" to treat an old lady from a wealthy family named Meng.
A map was attached to the letter, saying that Yanghua Town is located deep in the mountains and old forests, and the road is difficult to find. I hope "Doctor Lin" will be careful if he goes wrong. If he enters the mountain spirit's maze, he will There was no way around it.
Just over a hundred words are the background of this dungeon. On the one hand, it explains the reason why the players are here, and on the other hand, it also implies a warning of the crisis.
Lin Chen put the letter back into the medicine box and picked up the lantern again, feeling suspicious everywhere.
In ancient times, most people sought medical treatment by sending someone to ask for it. If the road was difficult to walk, it was even more important to entrust a trusted family member to lead the way.
I am only sending a letter. Please don’t ask for a doctor. Let’s talk about the speed of delivering the letter. If the host is suffering from an acute illness, the letter will be delivered and the person will be gone.
There is probably something wrong with this so-called "Yanghua Town" and it attracts people here without knowing what the purpose is.
Lin Chen touched the red ring on the ring finger of his right hand, feeling inexplicably uneasy.
Logically speaking, he should have teamed up with Qiss, but what about the Qiss people?
This dungeon is said to be about team survival, but why can’t you see a single figure and he is alone?
Lin Chen held up a lantern for lighting and looked around.
Under the dim light of candlelight, green bamboo poles are criss-crossed, and several small figures made of straw are inserted crookedly on the earthen bags at the roots of the bamboos, with their faces painted in red. Give a smile.
The candle light went out for a moment, and when it was illuminated by light again, the smile on the villain's face became even more exaggerated, almost reaching his ears.
Lin Chen subconsciously took a step back, only to see the villain turn half a circle, and his smile returned to its previous amplitude.
It turns out that this scarecrow has faces painted on both sides. It will turn its face whenever the wind blows. At first glance, it seems to change its expression on its own, which is quite deceptive.
But... even the fog in this world is solid and lingers for half the night. How can there be any wind?
"Roar——"
A strange sound sounded from deep in the mountain forest, like a landslide, thunder, or the roar of some kind of giant creature.
The sound caused the earth to tremble, the bamboo forest suddenly trembled, and a burst of raindrops fell on Lin Chen's head.
Is it the accumulated water on the bamboo leaves or the water droplets condensed by the fog?
Lin Chen wiped the liquid flowing down the back of his neck, which felt sticky and slippery.
"Gululu..."
A round, rumbling thing rolled down the slope behind him and stopped at Lin Chen's feet.
The stench of blood penetrated into his nose. Lin Chen's heart skipped a beat. He lowered the lantern and looked down -
It was a human head covered in blood!
"Tick-tock...tick-tock..."
The rain shower overhead is still pattering.
Lin Chen stiffened and slowly raised his head.
A half-gnawed corpse of an unknown creature hung upside down from a bamboo tip, swaying back and forth like bacon.
The corpse had no head, and there were hideous wounds on the neck, with blood still flowing down from the mouth as big as a bowl.
A drop of blood mixed with pus fell on the tip of Lin Chen's nose, sliding along the nose to the lip...
[Copy Name: "The Ghost"]
[Copy Type: Team Survival]
[Preliminary reminder: If a person dies, he will become a ghost, if a ghost dies, he will become a ghost, if a ghost dies, he will be a hope, and if a hope dies, he will become a barbarian]
Three lines of silver-white text were refreshed on the system interface, and strange pronunciation sounded in the ears. Narrator voice:
[The ghost of the person who died after being bitten by a tiger is a ghost, and the tiger does not dare to suit him. He always lures people out of their accounts in the early hours of the night and makes them eat by tigers. 】
【Yanghua Town has been suffering from tiger disease for a long time, and it is difficult to get rid of it. Those who ambush tigers near and far were killed in the tiger's mouth and turned into ghosts, wandering around the town. 】
The voice sounded like chanting and chanting, with a high-pitched accent and mixed with "hee hee" laughter, which made people think of the clown in Peking Opera.
The floating clouds in the night sky suddenly blew away, and the cold white moon cast a beam of light, illuminating the bamboo forest.
Lin Chen maintained the angle of his head and stared at the corpse hanging from the bamboo shoots.
He suppressed his steps and stepped back step by step. At the same time, he calmly took out a crumpled medical record book from the toolbar and held it in his right hand.
[Name: Psychiatrist’s Medical Record Book]
[Type: Props]
[Effects: ① Randomly summon the soul of a patient for 30 seconds (cooling time 24 hours);
② Observe and record new cases, with a probability of increasing the summoning duration or reducing the cooling time]
[Note: Mental patients have broad ideas. When encountering uncertain situations, maybe you can ask them? 】
This is the reward prop that Lin Chen received after completing the copy of "Frog Hospital". It is a summoning prop like the [Umbrella Full of Pain], but the effect is slightly milder and there is no risk of backlash for players. , enough to deal with less dangerous situations at the start of the instance.
The text on the system interface is still refreshing.
[You are a well-known doctor in Yangzhou City. One day when you returned from a medical consultation at night, you saw a crow coming with a letter, asking you to diagnose a disease]
[You were surprised in your heart, but you have a kind heart as a doctor and you can't bear to let it go. ; On the one hand, I was quite curious and wanted to find out more]
[The next morning, you set out happily, followed the instructions in the letter, and finally arrived outside Yanghua Town after midnight]
[The main mission has been refreshed]
[Main mission: Enter Yanghua Town and cure Mrs. Meng’s illness]
Lin Chen paid attention to the system prompts and was wary of any strange things happening to him. He waited for a long time without any unnecessary movement.
It seems that the smiling scarecrow, the head, and the corpse are not ghosts involved in the death point, but are just scare points and clues in the opening of the dungeon.
"Lin Chen, I finally see you...come here..."
In the silence, a familiar voice suddenly spoke intermittently.
The words were erratic, as if they were blown by the breath of the mountains from a distance, or they sounded directly at the bottom of my mind with the help of a team ring. Lin Chen clenched his right hand tightly, touched the ring on his ring finger with his thumb, and said silently in his heart: "Brother Qi, where are you? I can't find the way in the bamboo forest outside Yanghua Town. There are some weird scarecrows here, and There is a body.”
"I'm here... If you walk along the path, you can see me..."
Qisi's voice was diluted by the mountain fog and slightly distorted, okay It no longer circulates around like before, but has a clear direction.
Lin Chen looked in the direction of the sound.
At first glance, there is a thin crack hidden in the bamboo forest that can allow one person to pass through. The mud there is more solid than elsewhere, and the grass on it has been flattened. It is a man-made path. .
On the path, every half step is inlaid with a white stone, large and small, as if to guide people.
Did this road suddenly appear? Why didn't he see it before?
Lin Chen had a bad intuition, swallowed his saliva, and said tentatively: "Brother Qi, you sent me a text message before entering the dungeon, and it seemed to mention something important. I can't remember it clearly. "
Qisi seemed to be aware of his concerns and smiled approvingly: "You have a good sense of caution. Do you suspect that I have been replaced by a ghost?"
Lin Chen remained silent.
Qisi continued talking to himself: "Well, my pseudonym in this copy is Lin Wen. If they still want to pry, just say that I am your cousin. Have you decided on your pseudonym?"
“I’ve thought about it, I’ll call him Lin Crow in this copy, the ‘crow’ of ‘crow’.” Lin Chen said.
He had no worries at this moment, and followed the guidance of the white stone and got into the small cracks in the bamboo forest.
In the final analysis, it is impossible to arrange the inevitable death point at the beginning of the dungeon. If it is really life-threatening, we have to wait until the next day.
After walking for a while, the field of vision widened. The bamboo forest moved away behind us, and several clusters of fire appeared in front of us.
In the dim light, the towering archway looks like a hill. There are several figures standing or leaning below. Judging from their postures, they must all be players.
Without exception, these people changed into ancient costumes under the influence of the copy, and held lanterns of the same standard in their hands.
Lin Chen saw the young man leaning on the stone pillar at a glance.
The eyebrows are as light as mist, the eyes are dark and dull, the facial features are bright, but the color of the lips and face are extremely light, and can even be said to be pale.
The young man had messy long hair, and the blood-colored robe on his body was hanging loosely, making him look listless.
Even though the face and image were completely unfamiliar, Lin Chen still relied on some intuition to recognize that this person was Qiss.
Seeing Lin Chen, Qisi frowned slightly, took out a handkerchief from his pocket and threw it away.
Lin Chen reached out to take it and quickly wiped his face and hands to clean up all the blood that dripped on it.
Qisi looked away and said no more, as if the act of passing Lin Chen a handkerchief just now was just a small gesture to a stranger.
Lin Chen understood and walked over to the few people with a nervous but friendly smile: "Hello, my name is Lin Ya, and I have entered the dungeon for the eighth time in the novice pool.
"My birth point is in the bamboo forest. There are many scarecrows with smiling faces and human corpses there. But it shouldn't be the point of death, just a clue to scare people.
"My identity in this copy is A doctor from Yangzhou City received a letter asking for medical treatment yesterday, so he came to Yanghua Town to treat Mrs. Meng. Haha, my main mission is to enter Yanghua Town and cure Mrs. Meng’s illness. "
"What a coincidence, I also received a letter. "The speaker was a young man in black, with a sword on his waist, looking like an ancient chivalrous man. "The letter said that there was a tiger problem in Yanghua Town, and he recruited warriors from all over the world to subjugate the tiger, with a bounty of one hundred thousand.
"My main mission is to 'Kill the Mountain God'. Teacher Luo said that 'Mountain God' is another name for tiger... By the way, you can call me 'Tang Yu'."
Been The person called "Teacher Luo" is a middle-aged woman named "Luo Haihua". She is short, fat, energetic, and has two dimples on her face when she smiles.
She claims to be a high school Chinese teacher, and her identity in this dungeon is that of a Juren who got lost in the mountains. Her main mission is to find a way out of Yanghua Town.
She was wearing a sapphire blue straight train and a cloth crown. Under the decoration of the replica, she looked very heroic. It was impossible to tell that she was a woman without making a sound.
Luo Haihua came in as a team with her husband. Both of them are peripheral members of the Kyushu Guild.
The husband, whose surname is also "Luo", is "Luo Jianhua". He is tall and has a serious expression. He has a dull face and does not speak much. He only briefly and comprehensively introduced his occupation and main tasks.
Well, this is a high school physics teacher, a failed scholar, lost his way with Luo Haihua, and the main mission is to leave Yanghua Town.
The girl in the purple skirt had been silent just now, and now she introduced herself: "My name is Qiu Xin, majoring in Chinese Materia Medica. The setting in this dungeon is to come to Yanghua Town to collect precious medicinal materials to save people. The mission is It's 'Kill the Mountain God'."
The girl looked like she was in her early twenties, with an indescribable sadness in her expression, exuding a sense of mourning: "I know the difference between my identity and my mission. There is no logic at all, so you can’t help but think I’m lying. I don’t want to explain. This is a team copy, so there’s no need for me to lie.”
Tang Yu frowned: “What’s your attitude? What, you just assume that we suspect you?”
Luo Haihua smiled and smoothed things over: “Well, this is a team copy, our main tasks must be related in some way, and we have to cooperate and share with each other next. Only with information can we clarify the key. There is no need to doubt or doubt - there is no point in doubting. "
Qiu Xin glanced at her and said nothing.
While everyone was talking, Qisi had already asked Lin Chen for all the narration and prompt information that the latter knew through the communication method of "Officially it was a team ring, but in fact it was a soul contract."
He stood up straight, walked among the players, and said calmly: "Lin Wen, taxidermist, ninth copy.
"In reality, there is a friend who is a heavenly master, and he is influenced by it. I learned something in the next class. The identity in this copy is the Taoist priest who was invited to deal with the ghosts. "
The young man has an indifferent and distant look and a careless attitude. He looks like a senior expert who is difficult to get along with.
"My main task is to cure Mrs. Meng's illness. The Meng family suspected that Mrs. Meng's illness was caused by evil spirits, so they sent a crow to deliver a letter to me and hired me with a large sum of money to exorcise evil spirits. ”
Lin Chen listened beside him and felt that there was too much to talk about.
The tasks are just the same, and other players' tasks are also done in pairs; but even the method of sending letters is the same... Is it because Weird Games is too lazy to write a copy?
"I forgot to mention that my letter was also sent by a crow." Lin Chen raised his hand and added.
Tang Yu raised his eyebrows: "What a coincidence, so is my letter."
Well, the crow is really busy.
After waiting for a while, no one else came. Luo Haihua smiled and said: "My husband and I's main mission is to leave Yanghua Town. While the dungeon has just started and there are few deaths, let's go look around first."
Tang Yu raised his hand to stop: "Qian Never mind, it’s late at night, I haven’t experienced much of the plot, and there are no clues. I will definitely not be able to find a way out. Even if I don’t die, it’s a waste of energy and it’s not worth it...”
“That’s right, you said It makes sense." Luo Haihua looked at the dark town behind the archway, "Let's go to Yanghua Town tonight and find a place to stay."
She was bold and walked into the town with a relaxed pace. Luo Jianhua nodded to the other players before following them.
Tang Yu followed the two of them, and Qisi and Lin Chen also followed silently, side by side with him.
The moment he crossed the boundary of the archway, Tang Yu suddenly let out a "fuck".
Qisi also stopped and narrowed his eyes.
The town behind the archway is not as dead as it looks from the outside. It seems to have suddenly come to life, with the atmosphere of human beings.
Traffickers and pawns coming and going, shopkeepers shouting and selling, women with heavy makeup, and scholars in green shirts and white fans, all moving happily before your eyes, lifelike.
The weird thing is that it was clearly night when the players were outside, but it was daytime in the town!
(End of this chapter)